Mask
by Tsubome
Summary: what happens when sasuke's going to orochimaru was all part of a plan? what if, when he comes back, he meets sakura, who has changed? what if, he falls for her, and not only him but also neji and gaara? sasusaku nejisaku gaasaku
1. prologue

Disclaimer: I own what I own

**MASK**

**By: Tsubome Ongaku**

Haruno Sakura was cleaning the large Uchiha Compound, or the so-called previous home of Uchiha Sasuke. Up to this day she could still remember that pain in her medulla oblongata where he hit her that night he left. Ever since she has visited this place about a week ago she couldn't help herself to come back and clean it. But now she wasn't that little crybaby before. Yes, she still missed Sasuke, but the girl we see now is a different Sakura. She was now fifteen, apprentice of the great Sannin and Hokage of the Hidden Village of Konoha, otherwise known as Tsunade.

She then continued to clean as memories came back to her. Not only of Sasuke's betrayal, but also how everyone else has grown over the years. Naruto and Hinata are now going out, as the shy girl was given a little help by Ino, Tenten, and Sakura herself to confess to Naruto. At first, the Kyuubi holder wasn't able to answer back, and it all resulted to a major breakdown. She ran away, but Naruto tracked her (with some trouble from neji) and shouted out his feelings toward her. Not long after, she saw Ino start going out with Shikamaru. The confident girl really didn't need any help, like Hinata did.

After being done cleaning with the kitchen, she then went to a room. This room seemed to be the only one that wasn't too dusty, meaning that it was used by someone, though that someone was now gone. She then looked around, and went to get her cleaning materials. First, she needed to clean the ones that have some kind of leverage, like the furniture and such.

She then went to the desk/drawer on one side of the room, and saw an album that was set down, so that the back was seen. She then took it, only to see that the picture on the album was a picture of team seven. She actually thought he would have thrown it out, but it seems he treasured their memories even more than she thought. All the same, she didn't have the same feelings that she had for him before, and has grown.

She was about to put the picture album back to the table, when something caught her eye. Of course, it was put under the album, and so she didn't notice it earlier. Her eyes then widened at the sight of it, and she looked at it carefully before she picked it up.

The thing seemed to only be a piece of paper folded in half, though kind of crampled, as if the person had a hard time on choosing whether to put it in there or not. She then opened it. Sure enough, the content was a letter. But, it was far from normal. Nevertheless, she then started to read it.

_To whoever may come across this, _she read, with hesitation. After that, she then felt dizzy, but she didn't faint. She then stopped to think of what to do, then pondered on the content. _Was what I read true? _She then thought.

After thinking, she then jumped out of the window, to head on to the Hokage's Office. _I wonder what they will think of this now…_she then thought.


	2. the uchiha's plan

A/N: Ano…minna…I'm sorry to submit such a short chapter. This fic is actually a result of a challenge my friend gave me the other day. If you want to know, her profile is Milky Etoile. She is also my beta reader when I need one.

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**MASK**

**By: Tsubome Ongaku**

Haruno Sakura threw three kunai at the targets. Bull's eye. It was a fair day, almost a year after she found the letter. When Tsunade-sama read the contents, she immediately did what is appropriate, of course, to send a signal to the Uchiha survivor.

In the letter, they found out that everything Sasuke did was part of a plan. The plan was supposed to go to Orochimaru, to not only get stronger, but also to find out a way to defeat him and get the technique to take off his cursed seal. After that, almost everything was told to be in secret. All she did was to keep the contents of the letter to her, for the information to spread to the whole of Konoha would be dangerous. If the news would have spread to Oto, everything will be disastrous.

When the gang found out, it resulted to both Kiba and Naruto shouting out the most colorful words she has ever heard in her life. Everything then went according to the plan Sasuke thought of, and the ones who were the exact people to try rescue him before came to do the supposed task now.

They were supposed to go back by this time, but no matter. The girl standing in front of us now wasn't the old pink-haired girl either. The color of her hair was now blue, compliments of an undercover mission she had at the Stone country.

Of course, as expected of a captain of an ANBU team, she succeeded with positive results. All was supposed to be all right after that though, but she made one simple mistake to change the brand of her hair dye, and instead for it to last for three months, it now lasted for nine, and she didn't want that. She missed her pink locks, but she now can't do anything about that problem.

She was wearing a cat ANBU mask, enough to cover her whole face. Only her hair was visible. She then leaped from one tree to another, as if to go to a place. Sure enough, a clearing opened and she then sat on the edge of a brook and cleaned her hand.

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Sasuke jumped to the tree in front of him. _Where did this plan go wrong? _The Uchiha prodigy then thought. Everything was supposed to go properly according to everything that he planned about three years ago. 

Supposedly, he was to have found out how to defeat Orochimaru, but an unfortunate incident happened. Kabuto found out about the plan just when they were about to start on the last part of it a month ago, and everything then ended with them succeeding, but all he had managed was to remove his cursed seal, and Neji, who was supposed to be their eyes and was the one in front this time, was terribly injured. The worst that could ever happen now is if Kabuto has defeated the guys who were left to stop him from going to him and bringing him back to Orochimaru.

At the last minute, he has changed the plan from them ging together to him going only with Neji, (because he is injured) and Gaara(for protection). The rest of the gang were left behind to stop anybody from reaching to them. Other than Neji, there weren't any casualties unless for some bruises when they realized their mistake.

He then went forward, with Neji and Gaara beside him. Pretty soon, he heard water. _Konoha is near. _Was the though they pasted in their minds the minute they heard it. The neared it, and pretty soon saw a clearing far ahead. But then he suddenly stopped. The two people behind him then stopped as well. All three then felt the chakra, and silently hid theirs.


	3. meeting each other

A/N: WOW! At first, I thought, well…only one has reviewed me in the first chapter, so I was kinda low, though the reviews are really hard to get. The most I could really get in a story is eleven. And now, I got five in two days! That's really cool! I hope I could get more!

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**MASK **

**By: Tsubome Ongaku**

Sakura bent down, trying to clean her hands that are full of blood on the water. Suddenly, she _thought _she heard a twig crack. She then felt her are, but there was none.

_Is that even possible? _She then thought. No, her instincts have yet to fail her, and they have even saved her life a couple of times in fact. She then drew some kunai and hid herself in a tree.

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Sasuke then neared the brook, though unaware of who the person was. He then ordered Neji to activate his Byakugan and look in the brook. (A/N: I know that Sakura hasn't hidden herself very well, but Sasuke ordered him to look in the brook _only_) 

Neji then looked but there was nobody in the brook that he could see. He then gave the signal that the coast was clear. Gaara then stepped in first, so that nobody would get hurt

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The medic nin hidden behind the tree looked for who dared to disturb her peace. If this was an enemy, she was betting they don't know who they are dealing with. 

When she looked, she was surprised to see the Kazekage of Suna in there. She was angered, _wasn't this person supposed to be in a mission right now? _But she then waited, for she knew the consequences of being too hasty on her actions.

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Gaara then nodded behind him, giving them the message that nobody was here. Both then showed themselves, knowing that it was safe. All of a sudden, a kunai went whizzing past Sasuke's neck. A person then went out of the tree. 

"I see you have come back. I wondered why Sabaku no Gaara was alone when he showed himself." The person then said. You could tell the voice belonged to a female. All three then looked at her, and saw that she was wearing an ANBU mask. The only traits they could see was that she had long hair.

They then went onto a fighting stance, and then drew out some kunai. The fight then started, with clashes and smoke that makes it too blurry to see. The two boys, namel Neji and Sasuke started to battle the girl, while Gaara stood at the side, watching. As since the girl was ANBU, there wouldn't be any assassination or anything of the sort. The least he could do is help when it is needed

The girl was standing, exhausted, while both geniuses were on the floor. It was obvious who won, as since both were tired from the escape from Kabuto. The mask was cut in half, but all that you could see were emerald eyes.

_I was…defeated by a girl…_was the only thing they could think of before they lost consciousness. Gaara then stood up from where he was sitting, and made sand stretchers, and carried them both back to Konoha.

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Sasuke then sat up, and looked around. He was on a bed, and all the walls were white. There was a window on the side, and it showed the sky, clear and had the color it always had. A person then suddenly entered, and he looked at them. 

"Long time no see, Sasuke." It was Ino. The only girl who he thought was even more annoying than Sakura. The face of Sakura suddenly entered his mind.

_I wonder how she is…_He then thought. His thoughts were then disturbed by the voice of another person who entered. It was Naruto. He was patting his stomach, meaning he had just eaten.

"Hey Sasuke-teme!" he then cheerily shouted.

"Ohayo Dobe." The raven-haired young man replied.

"Ano, Sasuke, you're gonna be released from the hospital this afternoon, so try to get better. Ino was then about to leave, when she said, "Oh, and it's Saskura's birthday tomorrow, and we are going to plan a surprise party for her, ok? Go to the Memorial, it's our meeting place." She then left.

"Hey teme." Naruto then said to break the silence.

"What is it dobe?" he asked, wanting some silence so he can rest.

"Well, you see when you left us with Kabuto, you were supposed to be unscratched, unless for Neji. But when we arrived, we saw you were in an even more serious state than we were. What the heck happened to you? And when we visited Neji, we saw he was in a critical state. And he refused to say what happened, either. Did you run into some kind of trouble on the way?" Naruto then said, his face now serious.

"…" Sasuke wasn't able to say a thing. _What if they found out about it? No, I can't allow them to find out. I shouldn't say that a girl beat me up, that would destroy my ego. _he then thought, all the while ignoring Naruto's protests.

"Sure, be that way. And oh yeah, make sure you go to Sakura's birthday party, ok? She has changed a lot you know…"

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**At the party… **

"Well then Sasuke, why don't you say happy birthday to her?" Ino then pused Sasuke to a girl with blue hair, and he then walked to her behind him he heard Ino talk to both Neji and Gaara, and she also pushed them to the girl.

Sasuke then went forward, and looked around for pink hair. He then asked the girl with blue hair for that information.

Sakura was sitting in a chair, happy that her friends have given her a surprise birthday party. She was about to stand up and talk to her when she noticed a erson walking to her direction.

"Uhmm…miss, could you lease tell me where Haruno Sakura is?" the person then asked. She then looked carefully and gasped. He had the exact features of the person she fought with in the forest. Looking closer, she saw that he kind of looked like Sasuke. She then looked behind him and saw both Neji and Gaara.

"I asked a question." He then said to her. _Just as rude as before. _She then thought

Sasuke then furrowed his brow. _What was the problem with this woman? All I wanted to know was where Sakura is and now she is staring at me like I have something on my face. _He then stared back at her. Her mouth then opened.

"What do you mean where is Sakura? She is standing right in front of you." She then said.

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A/N: like other writers, my reviewers inspire me. Every time I get a review, I feel like I want to make a story. Unless I get a writer's block, I always finish making a chapter, as soon as possible. So please review! 


	4. a new fight

A/N: GOMEN MINNA! I'm really sorry that I didn't write that last chapter very well. You see, they have just set another curfew for me, and so my time for writing was limited. Now I can only be allowed to be in the computer for an hour! Plus, the keyboard is kind of broken, since the letter 'j' and 'p' don't write when I press them unless I do it with force. Well, all I'm implying here is that this might be a little short considering the circumstances, and my selling might be a little off like that last chapter. I just hope you enjoy this. HAVE FUN!

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**MASK**

**By: Tsubome Ongaku**

"And you know what? They friin' ignored me! And it was supposed to be my birthday! Yes, they talked and talked and never noticed that I was there! I wasn't going to stand for that, but I had to! It was my party you know!"

Sasuke leaned his head while listening to his former teammate blab and talk endlessly for minutes (or hours, depending on how long it seemed to him) while staring at the ground. Actually, he wasn't really ignoring her, it was just easier for him to do this and not get hurt like Naruto was, something he had gotten used to since he had entered the Academy.

He was invited to the weekly reunion the team had on Sundays, of course, only when they are free. Both Naruto and Sakura were there, but of course, Kakashi-sensei was late. His mind then wandered off to what happened the other day.

**FLASHBACK**+

"_Stop pulling games on me. Now where is Sakura?" What he said seemed more like a demand than a question. Neji, who was behind him, stared at the girl. Gaara, though, looked livid._

"_Why? You can't believe you were beaten up by sweet old Sakura?" the gir then taunted. Sasuke then had a look of confusion. Neji though, was now looking at the girl with anger._

_He then contemplated what he can remember that time. All he can remember was that the girl had blue hair, and…_

_Sasuke then studied the girl's face. She also had blue hair, but her eyes…THEY WERE THE SAME ONES THAT PERSON THEY MET HAD!_

_He then looked at her with pure anger, as though he wanted to kill her on the spot. She was now smirking at him, though it made him go back to what she said. He then thought if he should make her prove it or not. He then made his decision._

"_If so, can you prove to us that you are?" he then asked her. The smirk she had just became wider. _

"_Ask anybody here then. They can tell you. Or are you too chicken, eh Sasuke-kun?" she then walked forward to talk to somebody behind her._

_He then talked to the person beside him, which happened to be Shikamaru. _

"_Where is Sakura?" he then asked. Shikamaru then looked at him strangely, like he was crazy._

"_Weren't you talking to her a while ago?" he then questioned him. Everything went haywire after that._

**END OF FLASHBACK**+

Sasuke was then taken off of his trance by a loud poof.

"YOU'RE LATE!" was the shout he then heard from his two former teammates. Kakashi then put a hand behind his head, and started to give his explanation, though he hasn't even uttered a word before he was cut off by their shout of, "LIER!"

_Just the same as before, _he then thought as he watched the scene. Kakashi then pulled out of the death grip both had on him as he started to talk.

"I arranged a meeting with Gai's team this afternoon if you know what I'm saying. He and I…agreed that we will spar… " He then explained to them as if it happened everyday.

Sakura then thought of the consequences of the situation. _Great, _she then thought. _Now how many chances are there that Neji OR Sasuke will try to kill me for this? _

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A/N: I know this isn't really that good…starting from now on, I don't have that much of time since I only have one hour. I hope you will understand… 


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